


Castle Atlantis

by spiralicious



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Mad Scientist, Community: spook_me, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 02:06:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21236354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiralicious/pseuds/spiralicious
Summary: Rodney wants, no, needs another body to play with and John is procrastinating.





	Castle Atlantis

“Another new body?” John tilted his head. He'd just got Rodney a body to play with two days ago.

“Yes, another new body! I'm this close to a break through. This is scientific research, John.”

John rolled his eyes and was immediately distracted by a fly crawling on the wall. He crept up to it as stealthily as possible. He raised his arm slowly, calculating the best moment to strike, and snatched it off the wall before it could sense the danger it was in and fly away. It was a nice fat one. John ate it in one bite. 

“Must you do that?” Rodney peered at him squeamishly. 

John scratched at the scales on his neck. “You take people apart and rearrange them. How does a little bug eating bother you?”

“It's unsanitary.” 

“Yes, because the things you keep me around for are so sanitary,” John emphasized the word “sanitary” with a little snarl. A cruel smile spread across his face. 

Rodney took a step back. “You're not the only one getting your hands dirty, John,” he replied quietly. “It's for the greater good. You'll see.” Rodney nodded and marched back towards his lab. 

John didn't know why he was getting so snappish with Rodney, well more than usual anyway. He blamed the transformation. John didn't know what he was turning into exactly. Samantha hadn't bothered to tell him before she started injecting him in his sleep and she wasn't around to ask anymore, now was she? Well, she sort of was. Her brain was in a jar in Rodney's lab, too valuable to waste apparently. John suspected the rest of her was in the cold storage locker Rodney kept locked deep in the bowels of the castle. John didn't really care, but they were hardly the only residents.

Speaking of which, he'd promised Zelenka a “donation.” John hoped he'd make due with a fox. It was the only thing he'd had time to catch. He knew Zelenka was tired of rats, but if he wanted something more human, he could actually leave the castle and go hunting himself. It wasn't his job to keep him fed. 

He walked down the hall to Zelenka's quarters. It was late enough that the quirky scientist should be awake. John knocked and stood to the side. Unlike Rodney's lab, John was never sure what was happening in there. 

The door creaked open, seemingly on its own. John was used to that. 

“Hello?” John gently pushed the door the rest of the way open, standing clear of the doorway itself. He did a quick sweep with his flashlight before actually entering the room. Zelenka had to be awake, but John was fairly certain given his... mutating over the last several months, he wasn't planning on eating him. 

He was distracted by a spider web in the corner. A common sight in the castle to be sure, but this one was populated with a large orange and brown spider. John liked spiders. They were much tastier than flies. He went nearer, debating how exactly he was going to fit the whole thing in his mouth. 

“John?”

How Zelenka was able to get within inches of him without his knowing, John would never know. He just wished Zelenka would stop doing it. At least he wasn't upside down this time. 

“I was just checking to see if you were still hungry...” John eyed the massive tubes at the other end of the room. They were new. And they were full of chubby rodents floating in green fluid. John was fairly certain their eyes weren't supposed to be glowing like that. 

“Ah, yes, a little birdie told me you might have something for me locked up downstairs.” 

“Yeah, sorry it's...”

Zelenka interrupted with a kind smile that did nothing to hide his fangs. “At least it's fresh.”

John smiled tightly. Zelenka was a good guy and all, but a gentle, kind vampire was a vampire that was up to something and John was at the wrong end of enough experiments lately. “Well, happy, uh, have a good night.” He backed away until he was clear of Zelenka's space. 

He sighed. Rodney wanted a body. No, Rodney, needed a body, John corrected himself. It was important, he understood that, but getting bodies was getting harder. It wasn't that the goings on and the strange occupants of Castle Atlantis had gotten out. They'd been good about that, all of them. Their survival depended upon it. No, John knew it was himself. He stopped and looked in the mirror. Charming people away quietly had really stopped being an option. Even the mysterious cloaked stranger routine wasn't working anymore. His skin had gotten waxy, almost grey, except where rough scales had sprouted up in random splotches all over his body. The bags under his eyes were much worse. His eyes were getting so sunken, they were rimmed in shadow. He supposed it was better than when it looked like they were rimmed in red crayon. They were also perpetually blood shot and starting to yellow. He supposed that was because he'd stopped sleeping and had gone on that bug and reptile diet. Everything else tasted like dirt and cardboard now. John swore he was also developing a hump, but that might have just been his imagination. 

While it had been easier, John didn't need charm to get specimens. He had other skills. More importantly, he sometimes had help. John decided tonight might be a good night to let Ronon out of his cage. He could track anything. Getting the body back to Rodney alive might be a bit trickier, but that didn't always matter. John decided he should probably check with Rodney about exactly what he needed first. He'd only wanted busty blondes for a while, but he seemed to have moved away from that. John could just tell him to go get his own bodies if he didn't like what he brought him. 

The night was getting away from him. He needed to get going. Bodies weren't going to just supply themselves. Well, there was that one time, but what were the chances of that happening again?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for spook_me 2019


End file.
